


Practice

by CelticKnot



Series: Mass Effect Fictober 2019 [27]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Fictober 2019, Gen, MEFFictober2019, Pumpkin carving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-13 18:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21199805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticKnot/pseuds/CelticKnot
Summary: MEFFictober prompt: Pumpkins. This fic takes place in the timeline ofThe Paths We Are Given,Part 4: "All I Ever Wanted," andMass Effect Fictober 2019,Part 19: "Surprise." Kolyat attempts to carve a jack-o'-lantern for the first time.





	Practice

Kolyat wasn’t sure what he’d expected the inside of a pumpkin to look like, but the gooey, seedy, stringy mess he found certainly wasn’t it. It smelled strange, too. His stomach turned as he scooped it out into a big wet pile on a plate.

_ Scrape out the seeds,  _ the instructions had read. Nobody ever said anything about the slimy pulp that surrounded them. He’d planned to try roasting the seeds using a recipe he’d found, but the idea of picking through the goo to find them made him want to gag. It was almost enough to make him abandon this project altogether.

But no, carved pumpkins, or  _ jack-o’-lanterns _ , were apparently a staple decoration for this Halloween holiday, and they’d featured prominently in the holo Shepard had showed him of her parents’ famous display. If he wanted to recreate it accurately for her, he would have to deal with the slime and the smell, and figure out how to carve a face into this thing.

In the holo, the pumpkins had been carved with intricate designs depicting fantastical creatures and holiday messages. As a raw beginner, Kolyat has found some simpler patterns to attempt.

With a marker, he carefully drew out triangular shapes for the eyes and nose. The mouth was a little more complex, square teeth set into a crescent grin. But he drew it large, giving himself plenty of space to work.

The triangles were easy enough to cut out. Kolyat poked a sharp, serrated knife into the pumpkin’s tough skin and cut more or less neatly along each side, then pried the piece out of the hole. He cleaned up the ragged edges with a paring knife, then sat back and surveyed his handiwork.

_ Okay. Not bad. _

The other eye and nose went much the same. The holes ended up even bigger than he’d planned, as he kept scraping at the sides to even them out before finally giving up before they could meet in the middle. 

But the mouth was an absolute nightmare. Carving on a curved line was amazingly difficult, and the teeth ended up ragged and uneven. Kolyat frowned at it, considering cutting the teeth out altogether, but decided against it. The snaggletoothed grin seemed to fit the holiday’s bizarre aesthetic. That it looked small in proportion to the gigantic eyes and nose just couldn’t be helped. He didn’t dare mess with it further.

Kolyat pushed the pumpkin away to get a little distance, and studied it critically. It didn’t really look like the pattern he’d found. Not only were the proportions way off, but his cuts were sloppy, his lines crooked. Compared to the example, it looked terrible. But he supposed it wasn’t too bad for a first try.

He picked up the second pumpkin and set it heavily on the table. Hopefully, a little practice would make perfect.


End file.
